The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha that in the past 10 years (ie in the entire Modi’s regime) as many as 5297 cases were registered under the PMLA while conviction was secured in 40 cases. It should be noted that the reply did not contain the number of cases under trial.

The very next day on August 7, the Supreme Court bench comprised of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and Dipankar Datta happened to hear a PMLA case during which the bench made a stinging observation about the ED saying that there had been only 40 convictions in 5000 cases and therefore the agency needs to look at the quality of prosecution based on scientific evidence rather than relying only on the statements of witnesses.

Back in Parliament, Union Minster of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai was responding to a question by AIMIM MP Asasuddin Owaisi. The data provided by the minister shows that between 2014 and 2019, Union Government registered less than 200 cases every year – which stood at 195 (in 2014), 148 (in 2015), 170 (in 2016), 171 (in 2017), 146 (in 2018) and only 188 (in 2019).

It is worth recalling that PM Modi had resorted to demonetisation in November 2016 to stop the flow of black money in the Indian economy, which miserably failed. In July 2017, GST regime was launched, which also could not stop the parallel black economy of the country.

Before going in further details, one should also recall the way of functioning of the Modi government against corruption. First, CBI files cases against corruption, and then ED comes into picture by registering cases in relation to same CBI cases against corruption with accusation that the money ill-gotten were laundered. Thus, in many of the cases, both the CBI and ED cases run parallel, especially against the opposition leaders and critics of the Modi government. Therefore, failures of ED in securing convictions also tell us about the bad quality of investigation by CBI. Modi government has been accused of misusing these two agencies to settle cores with its political opposition.

The data tabled in the parliament shows that in the second term of PM Narendra Modi, when BJP returned to power by winning 303 seats in the Lok Sabha, having little or no check of the opposition in both the houses of the parliament, stepped up action under the PMLA. In 2020, ED more than tripled the registration of the cases to 708, compared to the previous year. The number of cases registered in 2021 were 1166. It should be noted that both the years were the years of COVID-19 crisis. Millions of people were dead without medical help, on road, without medicine, and without oxygen. There was also the historic farmers agitation against the three controversial farm laws. Protests against CAA, NRC, and controversial labour codes were also rampant. No wonder criticism against the Modi government reached its peak. There was also proportionate rise in ED cases and arrests, which Modi detractors allege were efforts to silence the critics of the government. Other cases were also registered against critics under sedition and other laws too.

ED registered 1074 cases in 2022 under PMLA and 934 cases in 2023 in the pre-election year. In 2024, ED registered a total of 397 PMLA cases. Since 2016, as many as 373 persons have been arrested under the Act, with most arrest from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi, the states which are most politically sensitive states for the fate of BJP. There were only two acquittals so far, one in 2017, and one in 2024. If we take the conviction on only 40 cases, the picture becomes clear that government’s intension was chiefly to keep attested persons in jail without trial for unspecified time under the draconian provisions of the PMLA.

In addition to PMLA, there is also another draconian law named Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) under which, Rai said 8,719 cases were registered between 2014-2022. Conviction was secured in only 222 cases and 567 cases saw acquittals.

There was also another reply by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary in the Rajya Sabha informing the house that a total of 132 money laundering cases have been registered against sitting and former MPs and MLAs, apart for other political leaders in the last six years between January 1, 2019 and July 31, 2024. In this category, ED registered 15 cases in 2019, 28 in 2020, 26 in 2021, 34 in 2022, 26 in 2023, and 3 in 2024 so far. However, trials were completed only in three cases – one in 2020, and 2 in 2023. There was only one conviction in 2020. Assets worth Rs1.39 lakh crore were either seized, frozen, or attached.

The Supreme Court bench on August 7, has rightly pointed out the extremely bad performance. “You cannot say that the burden of proving in on the accused when you yourself cannot prove that he is guilty,” the bench said in an ED case granting bail to a Chhattisgarh businessman Sunil Kumar Aggarwal who was arrested under the PMLA in connection with a case of alleged illegal levy on coal transportation. Aggarwal was already granted and interim bail by the Supreme Court.

Observation of the bench is important because two of its justices were part of a special bench of the Supreme Court who upheld several provisions of PMLA, including the power of arrest and attachment, and the ‘twin conditions’ for bail under this draconian law. Misuse by and the very low level of performance of the Modi government is obviously a suspect. (IPA Service)